With the third edition just about ready for release, containing over 1700 entries and more than 35500 citations, we’d like to start exploring some of the data a bit further here on the blog. We’ll pick a topic each month, and dedicate a number of posts during the month to that topic. Sometimes it’ll be something lighthearted and fun, sometimes we’ll address more in-depth research questions, but whatever the topic, our goal is to bring more exposure to some of the lesser known or studied data we have.

We’re going to start off October with a topic of interest to those looking for unusual and different possibilities for modern names while sticking to a pattern that is familiar: Colors! What color terms appear in medieval given names? What languages do those terms come from? Are they more common for men’s names or women’s names? Check back over the course of the month to find out!

Next month we’ll dovetail with National Novel Writing Month by posting advice on choosing names for characters in historical fiction. We even have a few guest posters lined up!